Rebecca Adlington, Britain's double gold medal winner at the Beijing Olympics, says it will be a huge blow if her favourite event is removed from the London 2012 programme. Adlington set a world record on her way to gold in the 800m freestyle last August and says she would have to take up a new event if it was cut for the Games in three years' time.

"I know they are thinking of taking it out but I haven't heard of anything new," she said. "But I'm wanting to make people aware of it. It would be a disaster really. It's such a brilliant event, not just because I won it but because it's a traditional Olympic event. I really hope they don't."

Fina, the governing body for swimming, is understood to be looking to comply with the International Olympic Committee's wish for equality between men and women in the various Olympic events. The women's 800m and the men's 1500m are single-gender, opening up the possibility that both may be scrapped, leaving Adlington unable to defend the medal which meant the most to her.

"I enjoy swimming the 400 and the 800 and if they took the 800 out for London I would go down and swim the 200m," she added. "I'll always stick to the freestyle. You don't want to see my other strokes, they are extremely shocking, but I'd love to be able to swim the 4x200metres relay as well. I never expected to win the two golds in Beijing. It was more of a learning curve to get me set up for London. The world record just topped it off. "

At 1min 55.66sec, her personal best for the 200m is just under a second slower than the world record set by the Olympic champion, Federica Pellegrini. However, after the recent trials in Sheffield, Adlington is able to concentrate on her usual event in the world championship in Rome this year. "I know I will be racing over that distance [800m] there so it's not an issue, but I would have to change my training for London if they decided to take it out."

The 20-year-old is confident that by 2012 the British swimming team will be even better. "We are getting stronger and stronger. The year after an Olympics can be a bit flat because you get people retiring or people finishing university, lots of different reasons. But we had a record breaking trials and we're all wanting more now. The difference is now what we achieved in Beijing. Other swimming nations now realise that Britain is here to stay. "

Adlington said she did not necessarily expect to be at the top of her sport right the way through to London. "Everybody goes through a hard time. There may be a year when I struggle and I realise my body is going to change and develop. It may take me a while to adapt to that but it's the bigger picture that counts and I want to get it right for London."